Erwin Rommel led several German campaigns during the second world war, most notably in north Africa. Late in the war, he was implicated in a plot to kill Adolf Hitler. When it failed, Hitler obliged him to commit suicide.

War

The film begins with Rommel (James Mason)'s defeat by the British, Free French and Americans in north Africa. Nothing is shown of the campaigns that made his name (and his nickname, Desert Fox, the film's ill-fitting title). You're just going to have to take the film's word for it that he was a military genius, respected even by his enemies – though many historians would agree. The staging of El Alamein and, later, D-day is astonishingly lifelike, not least because it is actually real life. The director has simply used documentary footage showing the real thing.

Reputation

In the movie, Rommel is disgusted by Hitler's command that his armies seek "victory or death". Gradually, he turns against the Führer. Rommel's opposition to Hitler has helped create his image as the second world war German field marshal it's okay to like. Though he fought for Hitler, he never joined the Nazi party. There is little evidence that he personally held antisemitic beliefs. On the other hand, he did fight for Hitler – and admired him sincerely.

Controversy

Because the film focuses on the last few months of Rommel's life, it shows much more of Rommel doubting Hitler than loyally serving him – a balance some feel has been pushed too far. When The Desert Fox came out, it was slammed in the New York Times as "a tenderised Hollywood laudation" of "the leader responsible for the deaths of thousands upon thousands of British troops, the crafty general so righteously hated as the dragoman of Hitler". It has been argued by some historians in recent years that Rommel's African war was a less honourable one than many have believed. A German feature film currently in production is said to cast him as a war criminal. The fight over Rommel's legacy is nowhere near over yet.

Conspiracy

THE DESERT FOX: THE STORY OF ROMMEL [US 1951].. Photograph: The Ronald Grant Archive

Rommel is persuaded to join a conspiracy against Hitler. The film's version is elaborated from that in a biography of Rommel by Desmond Young, a brigadier in the Indian army who fought in north Africa, admired the German field marshal, and interviewed many of his friends and family soon after the war. Wisely, the film is vague about the precise level of Rommel's involvement in Claus von Stauffenberg's subsequent plot to assassinate Hitler with a bomb planted in a briefcase. Rommel wanted peace negotiations with the allies, but whether or not he thought Hitler needed to be killed first is not clear. The evidence tends to show that Rommel could not believe Hitler was responsible for the Nazi regime's crimes, and instead ascribed them to various subordinates. He told several people that if Hitler were to be removed, he must be dealt with publicly and in accordance with the law.

Death

Messengers from Hitler arrive at Rommel's home to inform that he will be tried for treason and found guilty. To avoid a scandal, Hitler recommends that he kill himself – and has thoughtfully sent poison to help him along. The scene in the movie fits with the eyewitness report by Manfred Rommel, the field marshal's then-15-year-old son. The only significant difference is that, in the movie, Rommel cannot bear to tell Manfred that he is being taken away to die. It makes for a moving scene, but it's wrong. In real life, as Manfred remembered it, his father did tell him: "I shall be dead in a quarter of an hour." Off he went in a car with the Nazis, and proved his prediction correct. The film avoids showing his death, but Manfred said the driver remembered seeing Rommel afterwards slumped forward in the car, his marshal's baton fallen from his hand.

Verdict

The Desert Fox doesn't hold back in portraying Rommel as a hero. Its facts are straight enough – but the selection of those facts is open to question. More than 60 years on from his death, Rommel remains deeply controversial.